SFC, Recovery discs, and corrupted user profiles! 2

[scissorman]

I am trying to sort out my brothers PC which runs XP. I started sfc and was prompted to insert the winXP disc. The only disc supplied with his machine is a 'Medion Product recovery CD-ROM' , which I inserted. Unfortunately, the files that are needed to replace his damaged and corrupted files don't seem to be on the disc.

There is a section of his HD called 'recovery', but search did not find the files either.

Anyone know how I can get sfc working on this set up? I appear to need to be able to point sfc to the 'recovery' section on the hd, but with no luck.

Also, we have had major problems with corrupted profiles on boot up, with icons that have been dragged to the desktop disappearing.

There are two accounts on the machine - we'll call one 'duck' and the other 'chess'.

'Duck' is the original profile, set up when the PC was pristine and unspoilt. When a friend came to help him with his problem first of all, he created 'chess' as he was working on the lines that as 'duck' was corrupt he should create a new profile.

When we log on we are offered a choice - 'duck' or 'chess' (this is getting crazy!!). We select 'duck' (the original) but then, 9 times out of 10, get a message about a corrupt user profile etc;

"profile could not be loaded because a file might be corrupted or
it is lost. A temporary profile will be loaded and you
will loose any saved info when you log off"

I have been told that WinXP may then create then create a temporary profile called username.000 (So it creates a profile with .000 after the username) but I have been unable to confirm this yet.

It seems, from digging on other forums and newsgroups, others have had this happen, but as of yet not one has been able to offer an explanation or fix - except the reinstall!!

Anyway, back to the machine - the desktop loads minus the icons and settings we associate with 'duck'.

I tried to delete 'chess', but on reboot it was back again -I deleted it in exactly the way you should, and am now at a loss as to why 'chess' keeps returning (Terminator like) to the machine.

 

[SSRT]

I have had a similar problem regarding the corrupt profile. I tried everything microsoft said to do (copy profile, delete it, etc.) to no avail. What worked for me was running system restore under "help and support". I just went back to a few days before it stopped working and it fixed it right up. Good Luck!

 

[scissorman]

We tried that - unfortunately, he had no restore points - his machine had been messed up with a load of spyware/scumware, you name it, which we have cleared out over the past week.

Now we are at this stage, so close!

If he uses word and saves it to the 'my documents' foldr, on reboot it is gone - obviously because a new profile is created each time. He has created a folder on his C drive to save things to but hasn't dragged it onto the desktop as it goes after each reboot.

It is so frustrating!

 

[wolluf]

You haven't given much background as to what might have caused this - eg, did it ever run correctly. If it did, I'd be inclined to backup and use those restore CDs to get machine back to original condition. If its always been acting up, I'd suggest you might have hardware problems (or rather, more likely a particular piece of hardware is not functioning correctly).

 

[linney]

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q318/0/11.asp

Error Message: Windows Cannot Load Your Profile Because It May Be Corrupted (Q318011)

OEM's are a bit funny with System File Checker you may have to check with the maker to see if it is available to you. Again Service Pack 1 can act strange on an OEM machine, but if you were able to load SP1 it should cause the SFC to search for SP1 files on the hard drive and not require any CD at all. Again check with the maker to see if there are any problems with SP1.

 

[scissorman]

Great - thanks! I'll give this a try today.

I'm a bit worried about losing programs installed under the old profile - does this mean all of them, or just stuff like outlook express and email/ISP settings?

Surely Word and games won't be removed?!

I'll try the SP1 first though, if it lets me use the hard disk to scan for corrupt files that should cure it!

Thanks once again.

 

[scissorman]

Just one thing - with XP - how do I ensure that 'all system files and hidden files' are displayed in Windows Explorer?

I take it there is an option I can select? I found there was an option in the 'search' file but I have to say I don't like the XP desktop display. I was never sure if it was working or if I had enabled it correctly.

 

[smah]

Open any Explorer window. Tools, Folder Options, View tab, Show hidden files & folders.

 

[linney]

"NOTE: You may want to reinstall programs that were installed using the original user profile."

Sorry I don't know what Microsoft mean by that comment. I don't think anything would be uninstalled but the permissions or links might change, like I said I not sure what they mean.

Also, and as well as per "smah", unselect, "Hide Protected System Files", this will specify that operating system files appear in the list of files in folders.

 

[scissorman]

Thanks - as I don't run XP, and my brothers machine is 40 miles away, I take it I can 'unselect' "Hide Protected System Files" in the same way, and from the same place as smah mentioned?

 

[linney]

Yes.

 

[scissorman]

Thanks very much - help greatly appreciated.